Age Don't Matter
by Nikholas F. Toledo Zu
Summary: [Switch] Pain, fear, family, friends, sex and puberty - not the best of mixes.
1. Week 00

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Ranma woke up.  
  
There was this unusually bright light, which quickly concentrated to a door open before him. He squinted his eyes - soon it became manageable to identify silhouettes.  
  
He edged ever closer, holding the door for support. The word came from his mouth much sooner and clearer than he expected: "Mom?"  
  
"Sweetie!" She dropped whatever she was holding and beckoned him closer. "How's my baby...? I missed you..."  
  
"Missed you, too, Mom," he breathed, becoming soon short of it.  
  
She disengaged, smiling at him brightly. "You hungry?"  
  
It was enough for him to hear the words to follow. He sat at the table, cracked two sticks apart, then turned.  
  
He caught the meal as it almost hit him in the face. "Wow!" Again, he turned from the plate, "thanks, Mom."  
  
"So... tell me about your trip."   
  
She ran her fingers through his hair, a sensation so familiar that years could not dilute or remove remembrance. Neither could he forget the tang or the crunch of a freshly-cooked okonomiyaki, grilled to perfection.  
  
"Mom, you wouldn't believe what Pop and I've seen." He felt the bubbling excitement, remembering the chases (literally) and the wide, open spaces.  
  
-----  
  
"Genma..."  
  
He stared back into the darkness behind him, but did not dare stop.  
  
"Genma..."  
  
He felt the cold run through him, along his sides, and he froze, paralyzed through the entirety of his body by the sheathing of steel.  
  
"I didn't mean to! I tried to stick to my promise!"  
  
"Genma..." The eerie monotone was starting to wear at him.  
  
"Please! It can all be set through!"  
  
Silence. He almost supplied his own name, just to make the rhythm continuous. The voice said, instead, "set?"  
  
"Yes!" He had to shout, as his own voice was beginning to wear thin in his ears. "Yes! He can get over this! He can still be a man among men!"  
  
Again, silence. The winds let him go, and he turned.  
  
"So be it."  
  
-----  
  
"And then we met Ucchan, and we had a lotta fun fighting over his okonomiyaki, and makin' sauce'n stuff and then there was this carnival'n this weird man - "  
  
Ranma stopped, when he realized that, somehow, it was raining on him.  
  
"Wait! Wait! STOP!" But the rain did not.  
  
"What is it, Ranma? What happened to you?"  
  
He wanted to hide himself, hide the changes he could feel happening, the reshaping, but his mother - all mothers do - knew.  
  
"What's this Ranma? Why are you a girl?"  
  
"I'm not a girl! I'm a boy! I'm Ranma! I'm your little boy!"  
  
His mother seemed alien. "I used to have a little boy... but his father took him away. My Ranma is a girl..."  
  
"NO!"  
  
-----  
  
Ranma woke up, sweating.  
  
Immediately, he turned, checking to see if his father had been roused. The old man was turned away, mumbling, but apparently still asleep.  
  
He slumped back into the sleeping bag, wondering what to make of their return trip to Japan and why he could not remember his mother's face.  
  
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Ranma was created by Rumiko Takahashi, and these are all her characters and creations. The copyrights to it are also held by Shogakukan and Kitty Film in Japan, and by Viz Communications in the Northern Americas.   
  
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Age Don't Matter  
  
a Ranma 1/2 alternate history fanfic  
  
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo 


	2. Week 01: It Doesn't Matter, Does It?

Wow. Um, Ranma was created by Rumiko Takahashi, and these are all her characters and creations. The copyrights to it are also held by Shogakukan and Kitty Film in Japan, and by Viz Communications in the Northern Americas. Haven't written a disclaimer, much less for a shortfic, in quite a while. Um, if someone else has done this, I'm sorry - this came to mind and I needed to write, and the exercise. Jeez Louise.  
  
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It's raining. I knew that I used to hate the rain, then I learned to ignore it, then, now, I'll learn to hate it again.  
  
It's probably gonna scar me forever.  
  
"Stupid old man!" Stupid, stupid old man. With my luck, I'm actually running straight to this house we're -  
  
"Wo pu tse tao!" I skid, almost to the sidewalk. Damn my old man, but he's so damned good. He can't even let me go this once.  
  
He growls - I relax, ironically - and he charges.  
  
What an idiot! He thinks I'm just gonna let him -  
  
*oof*  
  
-----  
  
The panda discards the no left turn sign he pulled out, hefts its estranged child in its arms and ambled off down the road.  
  
-----  
  
"Out of the question."  
  
"B-But..."  
  
Heads nodded. "We can't just do something as rash as that."  
  
"B-But..."  
  
"I'm sorry, I don't see why we should baby-sit -"  
  
"It's not baby-sitting."  
  
"Unless -"  
  
"Yes, unless?"  
  
"You can't mean that we're agreeing to this, Nabiki?"  
  
The middle Tendo sister had that gleam. "Unless, Dad, you can make sure that they will be paying for their keep and not be any type of hassle to us studying."  
  
Soun looked as serious as he could get. "You have my word."  
  
Kasumi, who looked on, just blew air out of thinned lips and left as noisily as she could. Moments later, Akane followed.  
  
-----  
  
She counted up to ten, held her arms to her sides, paced around the kitchen, then finally blew up. "I can't BELIEVE Nabiki and Father would - oh, hi, Akane."  
  
Akane took a step back - she'd seen Kasumi get fierce before and would rather not be on the receiving end. "Whoa, big sis."  
  
Kasumi was between forgiving and unconsolably alone in her situation. She chose to be general: "It's just so unfair!"  
  
Akane was, of course, years her junior, the youngest and the most sheltered of the three Tendo sisters - it was easy to see her lack of understanding. "What isn't fair?"  
  
Kasumi took a moment of composure to lock gazes with her sister - did she know? How would she take it, if she knew what sacrifices have to be made to keep this family afloat? No - she had -  
  
Luckily, she was interrupted by the doorbell.  
  
-----  
  
Nabiki had a plan.  
  
Well, it wasn't really a plan - more of a scheme. So Dad's friend had a son, who was also into martial arts, about Akane's age. Just a year younger, well within her taste range - theoretically, that is.  
  
Dad had already agreed that they were going to charge for the food and lodging - God knew they were going to need the cash - but that gave her just about free lease on the lives of these two individuals.  
  
And, if this Ranma were anywhere near cute...  
  
"Ahh... my friend Saotome," Soun said, opening the gate. Nabiki blew out the breath she held.  
  
Which was a bad thing, as the panda rushed them.  
  
-----  
  
"Look," Akane said, walking out of the kitchen, turning to the other girl, "I can understand why you don't want them to live here."  
  
Kasumi blinked, genuinely surprised. "You can? You do?"  
  
"I wouldn't want to live in the same house with some... guy."  
  
In her mind's eye, she could picture one "guy" she could do just that. She shook that bespectacled image by looking at her eldest sister, who was able to hide her slight deflation.  
  
"Yeah, that, too," she said, entering the receiving room - which was empty. "Dad?"  
  
"Kasumi?" Akane slid the door closed. A random whiff of damp earth came up - she coughed a bit. Kasumi was just outside, near the pond. "Where's Dad and Nabiki?"  
  
Nabiki, they saw, was with Soun, who were both transfixed by the giant marsupial and its cargo, which was apparently writhing in its grasp. They, of course, could hear the shouts of putting down and letting go. "This is your friend?"  
  
Soun always failed to grasp sarcasm. He shook his head.  
  
Before them, the panda presented the child in one arm. At this, Ranma shut up, and stared at Soun, who was quite obviously appraising him.  
  
Ranma blinked. Soun blinked. Nabiki stared. Kasumi wondered about the possibility of hairballs. Akane goggled.  
  
The panda nudged Ranma, not too softly.  
  
"Hey! Watch it!" Ranma almost fell, but Soun stopped the fall.  
  
Ranma brushed off the motes of indignity. "I'm Ranma Saotome." With that, Ranma continued to stare into Soun's face, daring him to make anything of the fact.  
  
Soun blinked again - the boy's eyes were just too damn big.  
  
They stared at each other some more.  
  
Kasumi and Akane frowned. Indeed, this was the boy their father had been talking about - the panda was not coming into the equation yet, though.  
  
Nabiki took that as a licence to ogle - he looked young for his age, a little short and frail-looking, with a voice that was just a little on the high of the scale. His face was open, the eyes that gave her father pause, merely making him look... cute. She smiled - she held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Na-"  
  
"Okay, son," Soun interrupted, "where's your father?"  
  
"He's over..." then he turned.  
  
Nobody was there. Kasumi and Akane were gone, too.  
  
"Shoot," he muttered, stalking off to the front.  
  
-----  
  
"Can we keep him?"  
  
Kasumi started the sure-to-be-fruitless search for anything made of bamboo that might be edible to a species not indiginous to Japan, let alone Nerima. She'd seen the pandas in the District Zoo eat shoots, but would they eat rattan? "Akane, it's obvious that he belongs to Ranma."   
  
She turned - yes, Akane was still hugging the bulk. To her, it probably seemed like a huge black-and-white teddy bear.  
  
They didn't notice it pull out a rather large backpack.  
  
"But he's staying here, right? That must mean we can keep him!"  
  
Kasumi did not notice the kettle on the stove as she was doing her own boiling. "What this MEANS is more COOKING, more CLEANING, veterenary bills and keeping him OFF the grass!"  
  
They said no more, as Akane found herself hugging a balding man in a gi. "Excuse me, girls." He stood to go to the receiving room - which was when they screamed and rushed him.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma continued stalking, back to the front door. "Now where'd the old man...?" He turned - and almost slammed into Nabiki.  
  
"What the -?" This time, he regained his balance.  
  
"Hi." She grabbed his hand. "I'm Nabiki. Nabiki Tendo."  
  
"Yeah." He let go. "Whatever."  
  
"Hey!" She grabbed Ranma's shoulder as it came close.  
  
"Hey!" Ranma turned - that's when Nabiki kissed him.  
  
-----  
  
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"  
  
Soun already started on the tea that Kasumi had prepared a while back. The two girls' shouts brought him to look up at the sliding door. "Ah! There you are, S-!"  
  
"PERVERTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!" *wham* *crash* *oof* *blag*  
  
"DAAAAAD!" The guilty party rushed up to their father, who had been the victim of one errant blow. "I'm sorry!"  
  
"Uhhhhh..." As soon as she knew that father was still breathing, Kasumi left him to join Akane to interrogate the newcomer.  
  
"WHERE DID YOU PUT THE PAAAAAANNNNNDAAAAAA?!?"  
  
"Will you give up on the panda, Akane? Where did Nabiki and that Ranma-?"  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
"Nabiki!" Akane shouted, dropping Genma.  
  
"Nabiki?" Kasumi detected something off - she was right.  
  
"WHAT," Ranma continued, "IS WRONG WITH YOU GIRLS?!!?"  
  
-----  
  
Nabiki sat across Ranma, and ignored him. She had a slight blush and she was furiously trying to remove it be rubbing - needless to say, not the right way. Ranma just looked miffed, a slight blush also detectable.  
  
Nabiki was flanked by her sisters, who looked daggers at the man beside Ranma, who, in turn, was right next to their father, who took a side to himself.  
  
"Daughters," Soun started, "let me introduce to you my friend -"  
  
The man in the gi pushed from the table and bowed low, making visible the bandages the back of his head was now sporting. "Genma Saotome." He sat up, and indicated Ranma. "You've all met my son."  
  
Ranma still ignored Nabiki.  
  
"That's your cue, boy."  
  
"What?" Ranma growled - prompting a swift nape-hit. "Ow." Ranma pushed from the table and bowed similarly. "Ranma Saotome."  
  
Soun took his family in one glance - they looked unappeased. More accurately, they looked as though nothing had happened. "They are going   
  
to stay here, starting today. Make them feel at home." No response. "Girls?" Stillness. Soun started to sweat - it began to dawn on him that a rudimentary battle aura feel was starting to build on that side of the table.  
  
"Father, I didn't know that your... friend," Kasumi turned the temperature lower some, stabbing the subject with a gaze, "was a dirty old man!"  
  
He shuddered at his daughter's fierce words, for entirely other reasons.  
  
"I can explain all this," Genma started.  
  
"Oh yeah?!" Akane almost jumped at him from across the table top. "Explain where MISTER PANDA WENT!?!!"  
  
Kasumi added, "and why you were hugging my sister!"  
  
Soun watched the other two stay quiet.  
  
"Really," Genma shrunk under the two, "I can explain..." Then he got wet - and hairy.  
  
"Nope," Ranma said, discading the empty pail, "I can explain."  
  
"Wh-what? Who?" Kasumi sputtered, looking at the panda, then at Ranma, then at the pail. Akane merely reunited with her long-lost pet.  
  
Ranma started the recollection, all the while avoiding having to look at Nabiki.  
  
-----  
  
Somewhere in the East:  
  
"Which way is Tokyo?"  
  
"Shao ma?"  
  
-----  
  
"So let me get this straight," Nabiki had already forgotten her chagrin, and attacked the simple impossibility of the narration, "your dad," she waved at the panda, who finished his sip of tea and nodded, "turns into a panda when he gets splashed with cold water?"  
  
"You saw it," Kasumi said.  
  
"Actually, I didn't," she muttered.  
  
"Freaky, ain't't?" Ranma complained, shaking his head. "He comes back with some hot water, though."  
  
"What do you turn into, then?"  
  
"Huh?" Ranma, though, maintained his skewed look. "Wh-what makes you think-? I didn't say -"  
  
"Do you?" Kasumi seemed to see him in a new light. She also seemed to take in the pail in a thoughtful pause.  
  
"NO!" Ranma stepped in the line of sight. "No, nothing. He couldn't even tag me." He was floored by a massive paw.  
  
"Hey - Mr. Saotome!" The panda ignored Nabiki's tone. Ranma pushed himself off by the elbows.  
  
"Well, now all that's settled," Soun seemed to magnanimously stretch his arms with his smile, "how about some s-?"  
  
He landed his gaze on his eldest, who, in no uncertain terms, shook her head slowly.  
  
"-shuteye?" he finished.  
  
"Actually," Ranma said, standing, nonchalantly disappearing the pail, "I could use a bath. Been running in the rain and all."  
  
"Go ahead," Kasumi vaguely pointed to beyond the kitchen, "we'll go after you." To Nabiki, she motioned, "let's get the guestroom ready."  
  
"Yo, Pop, comin'?" After glancing at the happy couple, he harrumphed, only under his breath glad that the old [] wasn't comin', after all.  
  
-----  
  
"What were you thinking?"  
  
Nabiki laughed, setting the futon. "Is that a rhetorical question?"  
  
"Nabiki!" Kasumi was merely scandalized. "You... you locked lips with a complete stranger who's going to live under the same roof!"  
  
"Please, Kasumi, I'm not planning to get myself into trouble."  
  
"What you're planning to get is -"  
  
"Pregnant? A boyfriend? Pneumonia? My sister's jealousy?" She winked.  
  
Sighing, she threw her hands up. "Someone's jealousy." But she never voiced it.  
  
-----  
  
"So..."  
  
Genma nodded wordlessly.  
  
Silence. "Saotome... are you sure? Staying here... might be hazardous."  
  
His friend sat ponderously.  
  
Soun stared. "Saotome."  
  
Genma looked up and decisively said, "Growf."  
  
"I'll heat up a kettle, eh?"  
  
"Not yet!" Akane clutched at the furry thing some more.  
  
-----  
  
Finally, Ranma slid the door closed.  
  
Ranma so wanted to get out of there, that house, that town. What about Mom? How's she been? Ranma wanted to tell her so much, so much about the places, the people, the training... all the private hurts.  
  
Pulling up a stool, Ranma sat and, for the last time, started to cry. The tears would come, sooner or later, so it would be best sooner. All of it, one last heave - but Ranma knew that it would not end, quite yet.  
  
So the cold, cold water covered him, like the rain, the hated rain, to beat on him relentlessly.  
  
Ranma picked up a small towel and stood to go to the bath - this time, eyes open.  
  
Nabiki opened the door. "Oops," she said, a little too soon.  
  
She realized she shouldn't have taken a peek - she didn't see anything new.  
  
-----  
  
"Ranma will go with Akane to her first year in junior high - it's so perfect!" The two fathers laughed gleefully, despite the imminent disasters that lay ahead.  
  
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If you think I should continue this, press reply.  
  
If you think I should continue writing Switch, press reply all.  
  
If you think I should not continue writing, press delete.  
  
If you think I should continue shifting to Tenchi fanfiction, press your nose twice and holler. :)  
  
Seriously, though, should there be more?  
  
Switch 


	3. Week 01: Wait

---  
  
Morning at the Tendo residence.  
  
---  
  
Nabiki woke up badly to the noises.  
  
"Hell!" she mumbled into the sheets, not at all sympathetic to some shouts which started to sound like pained yelps as she covered her ears with a pillow.  
  
---  
  
Kasumi was already awake, and watched the latter parts of the match. It wasn't so much a match than a chase.  
  
Ranma bounded off of touch-moments with various surfaces, while Genma was right at his heels, similarly quick. The garden looked like a gymnastics mat for two, one a hefty afterimage of the other.  
  
"Stop - " *whish* " - it - " *whoosh* " - will - " *thump* " - ya!"  
  
The "thump" was made by Ranma's rump as Genma had tagged his son onto a largish rock near the carp pond. The younger Saotome slid off before he was further tagged and flipped onto his knees just to the front of the rock.  
  
"Sorry, Kasumi," Genma shouted, then bound unexpectedly.  
  
Ranma was aware that there was a lightness on his tail - he stopped and looked up. "OH SH-!"  
  
Genma bopped him across the face, rattling him. "Watch your mouth!" That was when he noticed the pond.  
  
Kasumi watched as the older man wiped the sneer Ranma was beginning by holding his collar and - unbelievably - turning in mid-air to propel himself back by tossing the boy's body into the pond. The elder Saotome made a two-point landing at the edge, arms stretched out like wings.  
  
Agitatedly, Genma turned and bent toward the pond ripples. "How do you keep forgetting to trust your instincts and act accordingly? Haven't I been telling you that you must - ?!" Spalsh!  
  
"GOOD MORNING, MISTER PANDA!" Akane teetered forward on tiptoes right behind the now hairy marsupial, hiding the bucket labeled "Fire Protection". "Have you eaten your breakfast yet?"  
  
At the mention of sustenance (and possible over-sustenance), Genma immediately made way to table.  
  
Only to be stopped by a Nabiki wagging her finger at the bulk. "No pets allowed on the dining room carpet."  
  
Genma slumped from his "BANZAI!" attack position - and turned to a still-smiling Akane.  
  
"Here!"  
  
Much as it was hard to go against the wishes of one offering a prepared meal in a carefully and delicately (read: amateurly and garishly) prepared food bowl labeled "Mr. Panda's Food", it was hard to ignore the fact that some of the dirt-encrusted tidbits were still wriggling.  
  
Luckily, Nabiki took pity on the poor beast. "Akane... I don't think pandas eat anything but bamboo shoots."  
  
"Rats!" She upended the dish, and made way to the back entrance. "Kasumi...?"  
  
"You owe me one," she said, off-handedly, walking to the edge of the pond. She could swear that Ranma had not come up yet, and it couldn't be less than two minutes...  
  
Five minutes later, Ranma came up for breath.  
  
"Let me see," Nabiki started, bending at the knees, but not offering any assistance, "your father quite simply whups you, and at Jusenkyo, in your training trip, you manage to dunk him into a cursed spring without him laying a finger on you?"  
  
Spitting water (without paying much attention to where he was spitting - Nabiki was almost hit), Ranma pulled up closer to the edge to pull himself out. "What's so hard to believe about that?" Under his breath, he muttered, "I would only be so lucky."  
  
Nabiki was eyeing Ranma very closely, as though... did she know?  
  
She puckered her lips at him suggestively. For some reason, he couldn't muster enough irritation over his embarrassment. He turned from her and silently went to the beckoning table.  
  
"Hmm..." Nabiki said, watching his back.  
  
---  
  
The inside of the Tendo Dojo proper was probably the only place on the grounds of the Tendo household that could be immediately identified as spotless.  
  
Aside from the shrine near the upper wall of one side, and a sign directly below it saying "iroha" in three characters in beautiful, simple calligraphy, the dojo looked all the more like a chapel.  
  
Ranma casually eyed his sparring mates one at a time, appreciating the fact that Mr. Tendo had kept all three of his daughters limber and fit - benefits his body contracted from life on the road. A look from Kasumi told him to mind his own business, but one from Nabiki told him that there was mutual appreciation.  
  
The door behind him slid open, and he knew well enough to turn. Sure enough, the two fathers were striding to the wall on the other end of the dojo.  
  
The sisters concluded their stretching exercises, and stood at attention. With a gesture from Soun, both Akane and Nabiki took their seats. The elders soon took their own.  
  
It took some moments after Kasumi had taken a stance for Ranma to realize that they were going to spar. "Oh, no, I'm not going to -"  
  
With the stomp of a foot, Genma quickly brought himself the attention of all involved. "Ranma!"  
  
The younger Saotome flinched, cringing for the next blow.  
  
"You shame your father!" Tears now visibly flowed down Genma's cheeks. "My only son is afraid to spar with a girl!"  
  
Kasumi glared, while Nabiki raised a brow. Akane seemed slightly irritated, waiting for her own match to start with some anticipation.  
  
"There, there, Saotome." Soun hauled Genma back down to his seat.  
  
Ranma covered his lapse of confidence. "What kind of martial artist picks on a girl, anyways?" He turned to gesture the eldest Tendo sister. "I've - " He was cut short by Kasumi's left instep across his mouth.  
  
"Son," Soun began as Ranma reassessed Kasumi, checking his face, "you and your father may have been training on the road for the last seven years, but so have all of my daughters, here."  
  
Ranma was slightly unfamiliar with the stance that Kasumi used - a forward stance that placed the feet much closer together, noticably raising her center of gravity, compared to normal stances. She raised both arms lightly but surely above her head, apparently in preparation to strike again.  
  
Anticipating another attempt at a direct hit, Ranma rolled forward and slightly to the left.  
  
What he was not anticipating was a half-cartwheel maneuver, where his opponent changed trajectory at the handstand, effectively landing behind him.  
  
"Now," he turned to the side, barely missing the club thrust an inch from the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Whoa!" Which was when he ducked forward, following the trail of the club in front of him to avoid the club at his nape. Kasumi completed the full moon rotation, retracting the clubs to her wings, left leg once extended bending at the knee to halt her movement. She twirled the clubs outward pushing the bottoms to the floor.  
  
"What the - ?" He did not wait for Kasumi to pick up the yellow gymnastic ribbon's stick - he put a foot on the trailing end.  
  
Bad move.  
  
With a flick of the wrist, Kasumi recoiled the ribbon in her hand, causing Ranma to fall unceremoniously onto his rump, much as an upended bug.  
  
Kasumi pointed the tied end of the ribbon's stick into Ranma's face.  
  
"Wait."  
  
Ranma closed his eyes. His breaths slowed, but grew deeper, and deeper - until it broke into an small explosion of air.  
  
"I concede."  
  
---  
  
Wait is over.  
  
---  
  
Ranma 1/2 is a most enduring series concluded in early 1997 by Rumiko Takahashi. Though it may take more than a small amount of time to complete the translations - Viz has been the major outfit for the delay. Also, Shogakukan and Kitty Film have contributed to its distribution.  
  
This is not a chain letter. You may pass this along to as many of your friends as you like - there are no penalties for doing otherwise. You may also reply to me with comments, suggestions, expositions, interpolations or any general response regarding the contents.  
  
Next week: Tofu is not bean curd.  
  
Switch 


	4. Week 02: Eastern Rain

Summary: Nerima, three years early. Ranma and Genma Saotome arrive from China, and are staying at the house of Soun Tendo, a friend of Genma. The Tendo daughters have mixed reactions to the additions of their household: Kasumi is adamantly against the move, Nabiki is entirely for it (with some intent of arm-twisting and a sly kiss from the unassuming youngster) and Akane has no comment.  
  
Genma has revealed that he has incurred a curse from the last leg of the training trip, at the Training Ground of the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo - one that transforms him into a panda when he is splashed with cold water, reversed by splashing him with hot water. Akane has taken quite a shine to him, dubbing him "Mr. Panda".  
  
Nabiki peeped on Ranma late that night to discover that Ranma is, in fact, female.  
  
The next day, Ranma trains with Genma, only to get beat up. The feat is repeated later that morning by Kasumi, using her martial-arts rhythmic gymnastics skills.  
  
-----  
  
Chime.  
  
Kasumi sat pondering her shallow wooden ladle, a hand on the cover of the rice cooker by her side.  
  
Soun sat quietly pondering over the go board, while a panda that got caught in the early morning shower sat back, enjoying the cool after-breeze.  
  
Nabiki walked in from her morning toilette. She watched the scene for a moment before scooting to the side of her older sister. "Hey, Kasumi."  
  
"Hunh?" She languidly turned her head up and to the side.  
  
Nabiki's background irritation rose by a notch. "If I were you, I wouldn't lose sleep over it."  
  
"What?" Kasumi said, a little too loudly.  
  
Nabiki cringed overtly, and Kasumi responded with the proper amount of contrition. The younger Tendo smiled, then sat down to the side. "Look, sis, there's something - "  
  
"Good morning!" Akane hopped into the room, sliding the door behind her. She sat right next to Nabiki and flashed a close-eyed smile.  
  
Before they could even look back incredulously, Akane bound back to her feet and started edging toward the two players.  
  
"Is that - ?" Kasumi looked with thin lips and nodded.  
  
Nabiki wondered whether or not to warn the intended victim, but she had other things to do, and so turned and went out the door. Kasumi turned from her to their younger sibling, who had by now mere inches to tread.  
  
Soun was the first to react. "Why, hello, A-"  
  
But it was already too late, as the pre-teen bounded right onto the back of the unwary panda. "I said, 'GOOD MORNING!'" With a smile, it slid off Mr. Saotome's back, while the latter had slumped back, clutching his ears and growfing in pain. "I have a gift for you..." She revealed the object she had been hiding.  
  
Soun held it, because the intended recipient was still rolling over, and gave it a critical look. "That's nice, dear... and it's a...?"  
  
He turned to see the teary-eyed look that Akane had on. "It's his flea collar!" She took it back with some ferocity, and pointed to the large flat wooden duck. "It says so, right here. Kasumi-oneechan said that he needed one of those..."  
  
Indeed, upon some inspection, it did say "Mr. Panda", subtitled "Beware of Panda, Nasty Fleas", although it seemed that both were handwritten by a criminal maintaining anonymity.  
  
Soun's sweatdrop was on the back of his head, so Akane did not see it, even though her father leaned forward to pat her. "That, that's nice, dear. I'm sure he appreciates it." A small kick to the panda told him to stop howling, sit up and graciously take the give, which he would later do.  
  
Kasumi watched all this, and sighed.  
  
-----  
  
A door slid open.  
  
The morning sun lit the room from the periphery but most of the guest bedroom lay in shadow, except for a faint sliver fallen from the doorway that illuminated the upper portion of a futon that lay in the middle of the room. The bulk within was bunched up and unmoving.  
  
From the doorway, Nabiki told it. "It's time to eat."  
  
When it had not made any move, she took a step, then another, into the room. "You know..." she started, when she could whisper, "sooner or later, you'll have to tell someone... it's gonna be harder and harder to hide."  
  
The bulk lay unmoving.  
  
When Nabiki was almost upon it, she bent down, then, in a moment of self-consciousness, bent to the head of the futon. "You see... I know."  
  
The window slid open. Nabiki blinked as the morning sun flooded the room in light.  
  
"What do you know?"  
  
She could barely make out the young boy that was walking from the window. "I... I..."  
  
She blinked, then suddenly Ranma was looking into her face, his own unreadable. "What am I trying to hide, Nabiki?"  
  
She blinked, once more, then took the sheets off.  
  
"These souvenirs you got from China!"  
  
Indeed, there were two moderate sized knapsacks, which, when Nabiki upended them, revealed to have assorted gift items from China, which included postcards, stamp sets, travelers' packs of oolong tea, fine-toothed combs, and one fine silk cheongsam.  
  
"What?!" In a moment, Ranma was in the far corner, rummaging through a large backpack. "Yuck! I was going to bring the old man's dirty laundry?!"  
  
Fishing through the fine livery, Nabiki looked up at Ranma, who was throwing large-sized gis into the middle of the room. "What were you planning to do, anyway? Run away and put up shop?"  
  
In a flash, the cheongsam was is Ranma's hands. Nabiki flexed her fists experimentally. "Not really." He stepped, sat, and folded the silken fabric carefully.  
  
Nabiki stared at her hands one more time. She stared at the other youngster - his cheek was flushed, or was it?  
  
"Ow!" Ranma flinched as Nabiki brushed fingertips against the bruise on his cheek. He tried to cover his mouth, but most of the bruise was on that area, so he yelped a little more incoherently and a lot more loudly.  
  
He stopped. Nabiki held his hand in hers, and gave him a stern look.  
  
She rose, and Ranma had not choice but to follow.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma had been quiet for the last few minutes, despite the fact that Nabiki had led him down the stairs and, much to his surprise, out the front door and the gate, without her allowing him to change from his slippers to his outdoor soft-soles. He was quiet because the last time he made a peep, Nabiki covered his mouth with her hand, and that was painful enough to be embarrassingly pointless.  
  
The last turn they took, Nabiki let go of his hand and entered a building. At the corner of the wall, the post proudly proclaimed the premises to be that of a chiropractor and a moxibustionist, which, again surprisingly, he knew to be a healer that burned small squares of soft, downy moxa in the skin. (Unfortunately for him, the only part of the dictionary his father had brought, which was the only thing he could read on the days that they would be stowed away on the back of a wagon dragged by some beast of  
  
burden. He couldn't decide if it was a dzho, an ibex or a yak. It definitely was not a moose, though.)  
  
He stayed where he was, not willing to turn to go back, not because he hadn't been paying attention, but because if Nabiki caught him, she might cup his mouth with a hand or, Kami forbid, her lips. He had already heard her voice, apparently in conversation with a deeper male voice.  
  
"- inside?" the deeper voice was saying.  
  
"My... err, friend," Nabiki was using the word with some lack of contentment with its use, "well, my friend has problems. More than the bruises and the beatings."  
  
"Beatings, hmm?" A slight pause. "Well, that's what martial arts is all about, isn't it, Nabiki?"  
  
Nabiki was nodding as they passed the doorway.  
  
The man stood next to her in a relaxed manner. He was wearing what obviously were training garb, but he did not take any effort to make him aware of his aura. In fact, Ranma suspected that the man was hiding it, like he was doing behind his spectacles.  
  
That was all he noticed until the spectacles were right in front of him.  
  
"Eep!"  
  
"Hmmmm..." The man straightened to peer at Ranma clutching onto the top of the wall. He tilted his head back and... smiled.  
  
-----  
  
"So... you must be Nabiki's friend, eh?"  
  
Ranma sat on the edge of the examining table, and said, "I wouldn't exactly call her that." He tried not to say it too loud, but hoped that it carried over into the reception area, where Nabiki was sipping on some relaxing tea. He could smell it from there.  
  
The doctor sat down on the other cot, across from him and peered at him critically. He took a hand that was leaning on a knee, surprising Ranma with its strength and the fact that he didn't even have time to lose his balance.  
  
The doctor stared at the palm, then turned it over and looked at that.  
  
"Hmmmm..."  
  
"Doctor?"  
  
"Hmmmmmm?"  
  
"What am I doing here?"  
  
"I've been trying to find that out myself." He licked his lips, and pulled back, pushing his glasses along the bridge of his nose, in a familiar motion. "Aside from the bruises, and that is a nasty one on your mouth there, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you." He clapped Ranma on the back. "You are a perfectly healthy young man."  
  
"WHAT?!" Nabiki was in the room in a flash. "Doctor Tofu, you can't be - !"  
  
"Hmmmm?"  
  
She gawked, pointing to Ranma. "She can't, I mean, Ranma is," she pointed at the doctor, "you can't, well, you are, and - but," she pointed at Ranma, "she, he," pointed at Tofu, "you - "  
  
"Nabiki," Dr. Tofu said softly, "is there something wrong?"  
  
Nabiki gaped at the two of them, then shook her head. "No, I think I'll just be on my way home..." She stepped on out the door again.  
  
At that, the doctor turned back to Ranma. "I'll just get you a compress for that bruise. Funny that Nabiki didn't wait up for you."  
  
Ranma shrugged.  
  
-----  
  
"But, he, she, Ranma..." Nabiki shook her head, walking without really noticing where she was going.  
  
-----  
  
Somewhere in the east, the rain was falling.  
  
"Noooooooooo!" The scream died, first growing tinny, screeching at in constricting throat, until it was all muffled by increasingly heavy clothing.  
  
-----  
  
Age Don't Matter  
  
an alternate history Ranma 1/2 story  
  
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo  
  
I know that Ranma 1/2 is not mine. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty Film and Viz Communication. Luckily, it also belongs to all of us. The little people rule!  
  
Next: I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm definitely going to sort it out.  
  
As per usual, C&C is welcome, and anyone willing to be a pre-reader or a continuity consultant will be given the load as soon as they want it. 


	5. Week 02: Evening Cast

-----  
  
Evening in the Tendo residence.  
  
-----  
  
"... a sure sign that the summer is ending, and that fall is coming in, so pack up your swimsuits, pack in your umbrellas, and make sure to tell the kids that schooltime is coming round..."  
  
Soun nodded at the television set, then turned to his companion.  
  
The panda supped from his mug, set the mug on the table and nodded as grimly as a large marsupial could.  
  
She was unnoticed, a fixture that sat up, took the tray and left the room.  
  
-----  
  
Nabiki nodded to herself. She knew what she wanted, but she was not really sure if she was going to risk it.  
  
She knew what she had seen. And if she was wrong, then...  
  
She hid the grin and plodded downstairs, and didn't wait for her younger sister.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma had just finished repacking, and now sat crosslegged, sighing. He kept an eye on the three drawstring knapsacks, but still actually had to open all of them to confirm their contents. He carefully slid his bag under the extra futons in the closet, and gave the laundry bags a slight kick. It gave a thick *thump*, which somehow delighted him, in a very small measure.  
  
He sat down again, and put his hands on his knees.  
  
It was then he noticed someone peering in from the hallway.  
  
He didn't say anything, and neither did she, and it was that way for a few moments until Akane took a few steps into the guestroom. She measured a comfortable distance from his steady glance, sat down crosslegged opposite Ranma, setting her towel on her lap.  
  
They stared at each other for moments more.  
  
"Hello," said Akane.  
  
"... Hello," said Ranma, finally.  
  
Silence.  
  
"... umm... you're Akane, right?" Ranma hazarded.  
  
For a moment, it seemed like she hadn't heard him. Then, she nodded, slightly. But the glare was beginning to get to him.  
  
"Is there something... wrong?"  
  
He swore that that was the wrong thing to do. Akane burst into tears.   
  
He jumped back, shocked and surprised. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop his mouth immediately. "What's wrong? What's wrong? What's-?" He slapped himself, then stepped forward. "What's... what's the matter?"  
  
Akane turned up to look at his worried face, and wiped at her eyes with her towel. She was still crying when she said, "I... I miss her."  
  
-----  
  
"DAMN IT!"  
  
Kasumi stomped around the kitchen to the sink, where she slammed the tray down hard enough to make a rattling noise that did not cause damage. Fuming, she stalked off, only to return to the tray and slam it once more.  
  
"Oooooohh!" She paced a bit more, then noticed her apron, which she roughly took off and tossed in a clump on the abused tray. "Arrrrrrh!" She took a seat at the table and sat down as gruffly as she could.  
  
"Damn it..." she said, as she slid forward, her arms on the table. "It's just... not... fair..."  
  
Drained, she sobbed into her arms silently.  
  
The door opened, and Nabiki took a step forward. She turned, and closed the door behind her.  
  
"Whoa," she breathed. "Guess I'll have to do it myself."  
  
-----  
  
"Don't you miss your mom?"  
  
Ranma was taken aback by the question. "I... you... why do you ask?"  
  
Akane sniffed, not noticing his discomfiture. "My... our mom's dead."  
  
"Oh." Ranma held his breath, a sudden thought chilling him - he had to physically shake himself back to the present. "Oh. I'm... sorry to hear that."  
  
She sniffled again, but this time, she tried not to cry. "It's been long, but I miss her a lot, y'know? I mean, she, she... you see 'sumi-neechan and 'biki-neechan, they're keeping quiet and you think they're happy, but you know it isn't true...," here she bowed her head and looked at the floor, "they're worse off than me."  
  
Ranma was concerned, but didn't see why she was concerned about her sisters. "I don't see how they can be...?"  
  
"You don't have sisters, do you?" She continued when he stopped, with a blank expression. "Kasumi-neechan... she was okay for a while, she said everything was going to be okay, 'n' that Mommy wouldn't want me to cry all the time, and she gave me all her teddy bears, 'n' she's been... she's been trying to be Mommy, cooking and cleaning and worrying about the groceries... and Nabiki-neechan is so lonely sometimes, she wouldn't sleep sometimes unless I sleep with her, in bed, and hug her, and talk to her, and sing to her, until she's asleep." She smiled. "I love hugging 'biki-neechan."  
  
"Oh." Ranma didn't notice how close he had slid next to Akane, how much more of a whisper her voice had become - all he knew was that she was lonely, and that what would make her feel better would be to hold her...  
  
"Anyway," and all of a sudden she sprang up, causing Ranma to sit back down and look up with a sheepish grin, "I hope we all could be friends." She put out a hand to him.  
  
He stared at the hand and was surprised when he grabbed it.  
  
He pulled himself up, then shook her hand, and smiled. She smiled, too.  
  
He shook her hand a little more. "Friends."  
  
"Yes," she said.  
  
A few moments more, then Akane disengaged her hand. Picking up her towel, she only afforded one more glance at Ranma, which was when she turned at the doorway.  
  
Ranma noticed the way she tugged at her towel just so, heard the ruffling terry cloth against her pajamas, and inhaled...  
  
"Oy, Ranma!"  
  
Ranma was surprised to see Nabiki peering from the doorway. His hand dropped to his side in a motion of forgotten fall. He couldn't understand why he was feeling so warm.  
  
Nabiki noticed the blush on Ranma's cheeks, and couldn't help but feel balmy herself. She held her towel tighter around herself, and took two quick breaths. "Errr... I figured you might want to take a... a bath, it's ready, y'know... I'm... I'm already doing, done, with, it... so... you gonna take a bath now or what?"  
  
"Uhhhhh... yeah. Sure, Nabiki. I could... use... a bath. Sure, thanks." He woodenly turned to the closet and - "Nabiki?"  
  
"Yeah?" She almost toppled down. "What?"  
  
He had a quizzical look. "Are you really lonely?"  
  
"WHAT?" She closed her mouth and asked again. "What did you just say?"  
  
"Lonely? You know, at night?" He was able to locate his towel. "I..." He thought about what Akane had said for a moment, and steeled himself. "I... I get... lonely... sometimes."  
  
Nabiki's eyes widened. "You do?" She heard her heart beating in her ears and she gulped her surprise down heavily. "Even... at night?"  
  
"Only at night," he said, and smiled, glad that this was easier than he thought.  
  
"Oh, yeah...?" Nabiki looked down and noticed that her towel was very short. "Well... now that *you're* here, maybe we can be... lonely... together..."  
  
Ranma put the clothes he needed in one pile. "I was sort of thinking that we do something so that we won't be lonely..." He turned up from it -  
  
- only to hear Nabiki's quickly retreating footsteps.  
  
He let his hand stay up. "Hmmmmmm... for a first try, that wasn't too bad..." He stared at the hand. "Friend."  
  
---  
  
Nabiki leaned her back against the wall and stilled her breathing, then she slowly shook her head. In a moment, she smiled broadly, ran a hand through her hair, calmly walked to the door and slid it open.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma placed his used clothes into a neat pile, then the new clothes on top of that, altogether ignoring the hamper, and put it on a corner of the outer bath, beside the door. Sliding the stool closer to the wall, he closed the tap and stared at the cold water that rippled as he jostled the basin.  
  
Friends... he once had a friend, didn't he? A couple, through the years and travels, he could see Ukyo's proud face, wearing a fierce expression under a cloth headband - Ryoga's angry face under the same headband... how would they react if they knew of his shame? Laugh. Ridicule him. Pick on him, probably - he knew how much they despised him for being better, for beating them up - but that was why they were friends. Now, he would be nothing in their eyes.  
  
But Akane... Nabiki... maybe, yes, maybe even Kasumi, maybe, they would understand... the confusion... the pain...  
  
He raised the basin above his head, bowed and upturned it.  
  
"Ranma..." Then the door of the bath slid open.  
  
He looked up - to a closed door.  
  
"Ranma..." With some horror, Ranma realized a) the door he heard was the inner bath and b) he recognized the voice. He stiffened in his seat.  
  
"Ranma..." Nabiki wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You know... I was getting... lonely... in the bath..." Then she leaned into his back, giving Ranma tactile information to feed his currently overworked imagination.  
  
His mouth was already flapping open and shut, and he finally found a way to talk while keeping his back ramrod straight. "-a-wha-wha-wha-wha-what are you doingggg?" His voice was quite higher in pitch to Nabiki's ear; it delighted her.  
  
It wasn't well then that Nabiki was playing her hands all the way down along his torso - the good thing was Nabiki had to pull herself back.  
  
Ranma had the impression of powerful legs to his sides to compensate. "Wondering if you were lonely tonight..."  
  
Ranma was now sure that lonely was not the term. Nabiki stopped and pondered his nipples, but continued on downward, toward his well-formed abdominals.  
  
For a long moment, Nabiki stopped there, as though caressing the ridges of his breadbasket. They were both breathing harder now, and Nabiki had pulled herself closer, bending her arms, breathing on Ranma's neck, hot, deep puffs. Ranma was feeling heady, and the steam was pouring in from the bath. Sweat was forming on both their bodies, dripping.  
  
Nabiki tried to say something at that point, but her throat felt thick, and she felt herself falling forward...  
  
... and not finding anything.  
  
In Nabiki's surprise, she overcompensated, losing her footing, landing her chin on Ranma's back hard, causing the latter to jump up and sit back down, right onto Nabiki's still-searching hand.  
  
It was this point when a panda chose to open the door.  
  
-----  
  
Kasumi sat up, shaking her head. "It's his fault. It's his fault... I'll show him." Then she stood up, and went to get some clothes for her bath.  
  
-----  
  
Genma ambled back to the guestroom. He didn't bother to open the light as he took a futon from the closet. Soon, he was snoozing.  
  
The door opened once more, by someone who did not want to extract comment from the bulk. The figure walked to the side of the slumbering mass.  
  
Carefully, Akane positioned herself behind Genma, and took as much panda in her arms as was comfortable.  
  
-----  
  
Age Don't Matter  
  
an alternate history Ranma 1/2 story  
  
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo  
  
I know that Ranma 1/2 is not mine. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty Film and Viz Communication. Luckily, it also belongs to all of us. The little people rule!  
  
Next: I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm definitely going to sort it out.  
  
As per usual, C&C is welcome, and anyone willing to be a pre-reader or a continuity consultant will be given the load as soon as they want it. 


	6. Week 02: Martial Arts

-----  
  
Still evening in the Tendo residence.  
  
-----  
  
Kasumi carefully lay the clothes on the bed, and stepped back into a cross-legged sitting position. She stared at the ensemble on the bed, and sighed. To her side, she held the basin containing her toiletries with one hand, a little nervously.  
  
Sighing again, then breathing in deeply, she stood up, gripped the belt around her waist, then left the room.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma pulled the door closed behind him and looked both ways down the hallway, decided that going out the back door was not the best way and thus went left past the empty guestroom.  
  
"That's it!" He rushed around the master bedroom, and ran past the kitchen, gaining momentum towards the front door.  
  
He was already on his way out when he stopped suddenly and cursed. He turned toward the stairs rapidly.  
  
"Stop right there!"  
  
He raised his head to realize that he was staring into Kasumi's chest. "AGH!"  
  
"Stop that, too!" Kasumi wrapped her arms around herself self-consciously.  
  
"Get out of the way," Ranma said after getting his bearings.  
  
"Get out of the way?"  
  
"I said, get out of the..." Ranma stopped when Kasumi took a step forward. A loud step.  
  
"Get out of the way?" Kasumi bore down on Ranma slowly, causing Ranma to take a few quick steps down backward.  
  
"Ohhhhh, shhhhiiiiii..."  
  
"I'm in YOUR way now, huh?"  
  
Ranma fell onto his back, having lost steps. Kasumi stepped over him, and squatted over his midsection.  
  
"If I'm in YOUR way," she said, poking his shoulder, "then why don't you MAKE me go, huh?"  
  
"What?" Ranma looked back into the dark hallway, and saw no one.  
  
"Come, on, Ranma!" Every word had the sarcasm of magnanimity. "You said you wanted me out of the way! Well, just make me!"  
  
"What?" Ranma now had to look, as Kasumi pulled him up by his undershirt and dragged him back toward the darkness of the bath.  
  
"N-no! Don't!" Ranma was as panicked as he had ever been, truly terrified by the prospect of meeting Nabiki once more this night.  
  
"Oh, no! You're not getting out of this one, Saotome!" And, with that, they were out the back door.  
  
-----  
  
Nabiki pointedly ignored the two, sighing. She continued to let the heat of the bath tide her over.  
  
-----  
  
By the time Ranma got back onto his feet, he had already been dragged across the stone tiles of the walk to the dojo, through the dojo doorway, and had to roll to his feet as Kasumi tossed him across the dojo.  
  
Kasumi held the towel in her hands and rolled it into a fluffy and flaccid club. Ranma dusted himself off, and checked his back for cuts and bruises. Kasumi faked a step forward, shifting her balance to the front then to the back foot, ersatz club at ready.  
  
When Ranma seemed more interested in checking for bleeders, Kasumi took a resounding step forward. "What is WRONG with you?!"  
  
"ME?" Ranma took a similarly menacing step forward. "YOU'RE the one that DRAGGED me into this DUMB dojo!"  
  
"'DUMB DOJO'?!" Kasumi and Ranma took a cha-cha with Kasumi leading, as Ranma figured that he may have pushed the wrong buttons. "Do you know how long it takes to patch up the floor or the walls when one of those mid-air clashes goes awry? DON'T let me forget how you and your fat father traipsed across the garden like a bunch of circus clowns in tutus!"  
  
"Hey, hey, I'M not the one who starts -"  
  
"But you don't END it, NEIther, do you, PUNK?" Kasumi was bristling and fuming, rolling up her sleeves as often as they fell, as though she wanted to roll someone's neck lengthwise. "You do have some NERVE, waltzing in, IMPOSING yourselves on Dad -"  
  
"I had NO intention of STAYING here... missy!" He tried to be more imaginative, but he had never had practice talking to the opposite sex, much less having a shouting match with one breathing down your neck. "My FATHER -!"  
  
"Oh, OWN up, will you!" Kasumi was as in Ranma's face as his nose would permit. "YOU wanted to do THIS and THAT to my sisters! Oh, sure, Nabiki kissed YOU! But YOU kissed BACK!"  
  
"I DIDN-!"  
  
"And your FATHER intentionally gets himself WET so he can take ADVANTAGE of my sister's charms!" Kasumi stopped, then took a harsh look at him. "Or is it YOUR -!"  
  
"Don't get ME involved with my old man's TRIPS, lady! I wish he NEVER brought me in the FIRST place!" he hissed hotly.  
  
"Well, exCUSE me for being an unGRATEful HOST!" Kasumi wiped away at some of Ranma's spittle on her cheeks. "It's no good that we're just GIRLS here," she wiped her hand on his chest, "but we have to train in this STUPID dojo, while YOU," another swipe, "went on your super-great, ultra-powerful TRAINING TRIP!" She slapped his face twice and stepped back.  
  
"That's IT!" Ranma stomped, and Kasumi could see the two, three, four planks crack under the blow. He flexed for a open-palmed front stance.  
  
"And you're gonna PAY for those!" She pointed to the floor.  
  
"So?" Ranma spat out, not giving her the advantage.  
  
Kasumi smirked, pulling up into a gymnastic slouch. "Not so stu-"  
  
Ranma took three paces in his stride, and came in low. Halfway there, he was flung to a side by Kasumi's pirouetting leg.  
  
"Correction," Kasumi said, raising her leg and her arms. "You ARE stupid!"  
  
Ranma bit back his response, and stood up, wiping at his mouth. He took slow in getting to his stance, bangs covering his eyes, maintaining the solidity of his silhouette.  
  
"You know, you're so STUPID," she nearly shouted the last, "you can't even hit a GIRL!"  
  
"SHUT UP!" He was suddenly right next to her, screaming righteous fury.  
  
Kasumi was so sure that she'd pushed the wrong buttons, that he was going to do... something, but it never happened.  
  
She unclenched her eyes, her jaw, and the fists at her sides.  
  
He stood there, barely a foot away, breathing heavily.  
  
Something wet fell to the floor.  
  
She stepped back, completely aghast.  
  
Ranma ran the back of his fist across his eyes, and he still could not face his opponent.  
  
Kasumi was still stepping backward, shaking her head, biting her lip, not unsure what to do. That was the reason that, when Ranma shouted, she was slightly off-balance, and barely coordinate a dodge to his sudden charge, staying within his path, and continuing to backpedal.  
  
She felt the fists rush through the air, swiping continuously at her, then away. The heat was palpable.  
  
Before she could raise a fist, she slammed into the wall. She barely had time to turn her head away from the fist that emerged from the darkness two inches away...  
  
... once again, she found herself unscathed.  
  
The fist embedded itself to the wall, not caught on the splinters that it caused.  
  
For almost a full minute, the two of them stayed in that pose, both sagging little by little, but unable to move much more than that.  
  
Finally, with a very heavy heave, Ranma pulled the fist out of the niche it made. It hung limply, then he turned on his heel.  
  
"COME BACK HERE!" Kasumi pushed off of the wall, but it took her a moment to catch her legs.  
  
Ranma stopped his maddening crawl at the exclamation, but continued at the same pace after a short pause.  
  
"Oh, no," Kasumi breathed into her collar, "you CAN-NOT just RUN AWAY!"  
  
Ranma turned so quickly that Kasumi almost crashed into him. "Oh YEAH? Why the HELL NOT?"  
  
Kasumi countered, "Because you OWE me, you idiot!"  
  
Ranma was blustering. "I don't OWE you ANYTHING!" He pointed at Kasumi. "I don't owe YOU, I don't owe your FATHER, I don't owe your FAMILY, and I SURE as HELL don't OWE *YOU* ONE - DAMN - THING!" He turned on his heel once more.  
  
Kasumi opened her mouth, but closed it angrily.  
  
Ranma was already at the door when he heard her deadly whisper.  
  
"You... sexist... pig..."  
  
He stopped, surprised.  
  
"You... pervert... you animal..." He heard her stand up and step resoundingly on the planks.  
  
He suddenly realized how weak he felt, the day's tension sucking his energy, seeping onto the dojo floor. He could barely hold on to the door, barely able to move, least of all turn back, completely rooted to the spot.  
  
"You... you can't possibly realize... can't... understand... what... what it feels... what it feels... to be... a... woman..."  
  
"And you do?" thought Ranma snidely. He also thought that he heard a hurried rustling behind him.  
  
"How could you...?" She folded and refolded. "Could you understand the problems behind growing up first... growing up too fast...? Having to live up to everyone else's expectations... except your own?"  
  
"And you do?" his thoughts repeated.  
  
"And then," she sounded like she was right behind him, hissing in his ear, "as this is happening, your body is changing - "  
  
She used her belt to snag his hand. She tugged, and he turned. The lack of light in the room did not hide the fact that the top of her gi was now neatly lying a few feet off.  
  
His hand clasped onto her breast fully.  
  
" - more than you can hold in both hands," Kasumi ended.  
  
-----  
  
The night was broken by a hideous scream.  
  
-----  
  
Age Don't Matter  
  
an alternate history Ranma 1/2 story  
  
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo  
  
I know that Ranma 1/2 is not mine. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty Film and Viz Communication. Luckily, it also belongs to all of us. Long live the masses!  
  
Next: I don't know what's wrong with you, son.  
  
As per usual, C&C is welcome, and anyone willing to be a pre-reader or a continuity consultant will be given the load as soon as they want it. 


	7. Week 02: Mother's Milk

-----  
  
Three days later, Tendo household  
  
-----  
  
Soun and Genma were playing go, while Kasumi was watching TV. The chime shook in the late morning wind, and the doorbell rang.  
  
A few moments later, the doorbell rang once more.  
  
Kasumi briefly glanced at the two elder martial artists, who were both on one knee, apparently wanting to answer the summons, but both unwilling to leave the other unguarded with the board. She sighed and went to the front gate.  
  
Nabiki and Akane entered. Between them, they had three unopened umbrellas, which they left at the door with their sneakers.  
  
The three sisters entered the receiving room. "Well?" Soun asked, concerned.  
  
Nabiki sat down in one ungraceful movement. "He wasn't in the park, and he wasn't in the shopping arcade. Dr. Tofu still hasn't seen him. The only person who seems to have seen him was the old lady close to the canal - the one who splashes the road all the time? - but she seems to think that her dog looks like him."  
  
Kasumi snorted a snicker but covered it quickly.  
  
Soun nodded gravely, seemed to concentrate for a moment or more, then asked, "Well, Saotome?"  
  
Genma quickly jerked back into a low heavy seat, hand flying to his glasses. "Well, Tendo, it would seem that the boy's not planning to have himself found." Both fathers nodded grimly.  
  
"That's it?" Nabiki didn't sound like she believed anything she was hearing. The tension she accumulated in the last few days was increasing her intensity and volume. "We wait until HE COMES BACK??"  
  
"Nabiki!" Kasumi snapped at her sister, but didn't follow up her challenge.  
  
"What if he was lying injured somewhere?" She leveled a fierce stare at Genma, who didn't seem to acknowledge it. "Even if he's on some training trip, or some meditation journey, he's got to have someone making sure he's okay!" Akane was nodding her easy assent.  
  
"Nabiki," Genma answered levelly, "Ranma is thirteen, and as competent a martial artist as any of you three. He has dedicated his life to honing his skills. If he feels the need to seek training on his own, he is entitled to it."  
  
Nabiki was about to retort when Kasumi spoke. "Father, if any of us were to leave on a training trip, would you allow us?"  
  
Soun felt his daughters eyes shift to him. "Um... well, Saotome and I went, err, on our own, and... we weren't much older... and, um..." He suddenly broke down in torrential sobbing.  
  
Akane quickly made her way to his side, patting on his back, and fighting back tears. She quickly spat, "Nee-san!"  
  
Nabiki looked at her older sister, who had turned to turn off the TV. She could hear Genma patting her father's back as well, muttering something about having sons and daughters. She didn't feel up to challenging him again, and only wondered, "Ranma, where did you go?"  
  
-----  
  
Kasumi spirited away to the kitchen, mouth taut as a circus tightrope. She went up to a cupboard, and leaned on the counter. She let herself sag a little.  
  
-----  
  
Elsewhere in Tokyo  
  
-----  
  
Ranma faced the vending machine and reluctantly inserted his last few coins. He pushed a button and waited for the beverage can to fall into place.  
  
He walked over to a nearby bench, and placed his hefty baggage on it before taking a seat. He took care to open the can, and drank slowly, nursing his nourishment in a manner so that he would feel most refreshed.  
  
The old woman sharing the bench turned to watch him drink a little, then stop, then take a breath, then drink another small amount. She smiled, then took note of his backpack. She squinted in thought, then turned back to sitting straight and breathing deeply.  
  
He stopped for a moment, taking stock of his location, looking for road name-markers and landmarks. He leaned forward, and trying squinting, then sat back onto the bench, clutching the bag to his chest.  
  
The old lady turned to him again, then she shuffled a bit closer. "Sonny, would you mind if I asked you a question?"  
  
Ranma was a little surprised, but he shook his head to indicate that a question would be all right.  
  
She leaned in a little closer. "Are you running away from home?"  
  
He shook his head, his eyes widening. He said, in a whisper, "I'm trying to get back home."  
  
She was taken aback for a moment. "You're lost, son?"  
  
He nodded, tears beginning to form in his eyes.  
  
"There, there," she said, comforting him with a few pats. "There's a police booth a few blocks down the road, you could ask them for directions."  
  
"I-I tried that, granny." He was shaking then. "The police, the policeman said he c-couldn't help me."  
  
She stopped, and blinked. "Why did he say that, son? Did he say why?"  
  
Ranma wiped his eyes, and sniffled. "I-I don't remember... don't remember... where... I used to live."  
  
"There, there," she repeated, ruffling his hair.  
  
When he had calmed down, she asked him, "What's your name, son?"  
  
"R-Ranma, granny. Ranma Saotome."  
  
She was silent for a few moments. "Saotome, you say? Ranma Saotome?" She laughed under her breath. "Yes, I think I can help you, my boy."  
  
-----  
  
At the Tendo dojo  
  
-----  
  
It started to rain in Nerima.  
  
Nabiki opened the door to the dojo, fully expecting to find Kasumi, vigorously practicing. Today, her sister was in her leotard, and a full compliment of rhythmic gymnastics equipment had been brought out: two clubs, the ribbon, a hoop, and a small rubber ball.  
  
Right now, the floor exercise that Kasumi was performing involved the hoop, which she was holding in her right hand. She executed simple throughs: leaping gazelle-like into a split while rolling the hoop in her hand, making it look like she was jumping through the hoop. She even risked a double-through, though she tagged the hoop with her toes. She bit off a curse, and tossed the hoop. Nabiki caught the red-and-white ring and caught her sister's attention.  
  
Nabiki watched Kasumi wipe her face of sweat, and stepped forward to close the gap between them to about arm's breadth. The eldest sister finally looked into her eyes, and Nabiki asked, "Did you ask him to leave?"  
  
"Nabiki," she started.  
  
"Oh, come on, sister," Nabiki chastised none-too-harshly.  
  
"You 'come on', Nabiki," Kasumi replied hotly. Then she wiped her face. "Sorry," she said through the towel.  
  
Nabiki sighed. "I know you've been on edge since they've arrived, Kasumi. And that you've been fighting with Ranma." Kasumi seemed to protest, but Nabiki cut her off, "I heard the two of you the night before he ran off."  
  
Kasumi looked like she bit off something unsavory and wriggly. She took a while longer to nod. She sat down, cross-legged, cradling the towel in her lap.  
  
Nabiki sat down as well. "Aren't you worried about him?"  
  
Kasumi's face turned to contempt. "Worried? About Mr. I-Just-Came-From-A-Training-Trip-In-China? Feh."  
  
"You sound just like Mr. Saotome."  
  
"Don't get me started on him." Kasumi crossed her arms.  
  
"Yeah," here Nabiki smiled ironically, "and Dad's all 'my friend's son is going on a sacred meditation trip'."  
  
"Good riddance, I say," Kasumi muttered.  
  
"Kasumi!"  
  
"Look, Nabiki," Kasumi countered, "if you like him all that much, go keep looking for him. He's a nuisance when he's here, and he's a nuisance when he's not."  
  
Nabiki kept quiet and looked at her sister, assessing her statements. "You know," she said finally, "Akane told me Ranma was probably going home."  
  
"Great," Kasumi ranted, raising and dropping her arms in resignation, "he makes us all worry so he can go back and feel accepted."  
  
"Not here, Kasumi. Their home."  
  
"Oh." The elder sister mulled it over. "Going back home to mommy?"  
  
"Hey," Nabiki warned.  
  
"Geez, so he's a momma's boy. Great martial artist needs his mommy - "  
  
Nabiki was close to her limit. "Listen to yourself, will you?"  
  
Kasumi seemed about to say even more when she took Nabiki's advice.  
  
"He's been on their training trip for seven years, Kasumi. He hasn't seen his mother for longer than we'd - " Nabiki stopped herself, and tried to find better words.  
  
"It just doesn't seem fair, y'know?" Kasumi bowed her head, and was shaking it.  
  
"Tell me about it, sis." Nabiki looked earnest. "Tell me."  
  
-----  
  
Somewhere in Tokyo  
  
-----  
  
The old woman leaned on Ranma's arm as they walked down the road. "Turn right here, Ranma."  
  
"Yes, granny." Every step gave him further push, hoping that the next house would be his house.  
  
A while longer, and a few more turns, and then, she tugged at his sleeve.  
  
"Yes, granny?"  
  
She pointed to the house on their right.  
  
"Here?" Ranma sounded like he didn't want to believe it.  
  
"Yes, here, son." She walked up to the doorbell and pressed it.  
  
A few moments passed, and Ranma felt emotions welling up inside him, confusing him. He felt like pacing, and put down his bag.  
  
The door opened.  
  
"Yes?" The woman went to the gate and met them.  
  
"Nodoka? Nodoka Saotome?"  
  
"Y-yes?" Nodoka looked to the old woman, then to the young man beside her. Ranma was wide-eyed, looking at the woman who was his mother for the first time since he had been taught to appreciate all that should be held dear.  
  
"Mother?"  
  
-----  
  
Age Don't Matter  
  
an alternate history Ranma 1/2 story  
  
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo  
  
I know that Ranma 1/2 is not mine. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty Film and Viz Communication. Luckily, it also belongs to all of us. Long live the masses!  
  
Next: I don't know what's wrong with you, son.  
  
As per usual, C&C is welcome, and anyone willing to be a pre-reader or a continuity consultant will be given the load as soon as they want it. 


End file.
